Rebyl Pinto – Muscat, Oman

“I am from Bombay. I was born in a Roman Catholic family…But four and a half years ago I came to Oman where I am right now and that’s when I accepted Jesus. It was a process…it’s not easy…it’s difficult to change your faith.”

I met Rebyl in Muscat, Oman in the Arabian Gulf where she lived with her mother and brother. I was taken with the deep faith she had, even as a teenager. Her faith was palpable in everything she said and how she carried herself. Rebyl was interested in a career in design which she has now pursued, but her bedrock was her faith. As a Jew,I did not understand at first what it meant for someone Catholic to become “born again,” and how that constituted a change in faith. But I do understand how anyone can have an internal upheaval, a change in consciousness where our “God-Connection” increases and our “Self” decreases. All of the sudden, we become “enough” and life changes. At a time I had no faith and needed it desperately, I came to know this amazing young teenager and saw her living faith everyday.